Monthly Archives: October 2019

A monument that celebrates Gandhi

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The Mahatma Gandhi statue at the Veera Soudha in Belagavi.
The Mahatma Gandhi statue at the Veera Soudha in Belagavi.

Veera Soudha commemorates the 34th Congress Session of 1924

The 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi will be celebrated in Belagavi on Wednesday at the Vijay Nagar Veera Soudha, a monument built to commemorate the 34th Congress Session in Belagavi in 1924.

The monument that encompasses a park, a well and a hall, has been cleaned and decorated. Ministers Lakshman Savadi and Shashikala Jolle will speak during the celebrations scheduled at the monument on Congress Road in Tilakwadi here on Wednesday morning.

The monument that encompasses a park, a well and a hall, has been cleaned and decorated. Ministers Lakshman Savadi and Shashikala Jolle will speak during the celebrations scheduled at the monument on Congress Road in Tilakwadi here on Wednesday morning.

The park stands at the venue of the 1924 Congress Session. The venue was named Vijay Nagar by the organisers of the conference, including Gangadhar Rao Deshpande and N.S. Hardikar. A temporary railway station was built at the venue to help delegates alight. A well was built through Shramdan to provide water for those attending the conference. The well still yields sweet, cool, potable water that is supplied to residents in the surrounding areas.

The park contains fruit and flower trees and has statues of deer and other animals. The main building has a series of photographs of the Session and Gandhiji’s interactions with the leaders of the Independence movement. He is seen with Mohammad Ali Jouhar, president of the 33th Session, and other leaders.

Gandhiji visited Belagavi (erstwhile Belgaum) three times. He attended the Bombay provincial conference of the Home Rule League in 1916, chaired the Congress Session in 1924 and spent 10 days in the Khadi and Village Industries Centre in Hudali village in 1937.

There are several monuments to the Father of the Nation in the district. The City Railway Station has a Charka installed atop its roof and a stone plaque. A pillar is erected in Shivaji Park near Kapileshwar Temple in the city apart from the Veera Soudha building. Gandhiji’s ashes are interred in Mugut Khan Hubballi, while the Khadi centre in Hudali is a living monument that celebrates the proponent of village industries.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by Rishikesh Bahadur Desai / Belagavi – October 02nd, 2019

Brothers come up with visionary app to detect lazy eye

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In a bid to detect amblyobia faster in children, 16-year-old Vrishab Krishna and his 18-year-old brother, Biswesh Krishna from Bengaluru, have come out with an app called Kanna.

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Bengaluru :

In a bid to detect amblyobia faster in children, 16-year-old Vrishab Krishna and his 18-year-old brother, Biswesh Krishna from Bengaluru, have come out with an app called Kanna. Amblyopia, also known as lazy eye, is a visual development disorder where a person slowly loses vision leading to partial blindness. It affects almost 16 million children in India and over 103 million children from all over the world.

Vrishab used to suffer amblyopia as a child, and would have difficulty while climbing down stairs. Even while playing, he would have difficulty catching the ball. But Vrishab was lucky since his mother noticed his problem when he was four years old and got him tested. The diagnosis revealed his lazy eye condition. Having received treatment in time, Vrishab has been able to see perfectly with both his eyes.
A year ago, the duo decided to study amblyopia and come up with a solution. As they worked on the project, they came up with an app wherein a child affected with the condition will just have to click two images and upload it onto the app to determine whether they have a lazy eye or not. “We wanted an accessible way to help people figure out if they have the condition. And what better than a smart phone which everyone uses,” said Vrishab.

Using patent pending image processing and machine learning algorithms, they calculate one’s risk of having a lazy eye. “After testing, we found that our algorithm to calculate amblyopia is accurate. The child will have to click one image in low light and the other in ambient light. After uploading the images, the results will be out immediately,” said Vrishab.

The duo even reached out to Sankara Eye Hospital and performed a pilot test, and the hospital is now using the device. “Three years ago, we had carried out a survey on amblyopia in Bengaluru and it showed that six percent of children in the city were at a risk. Detecting amblyopia during the critical period – that is before the age of eight – is crucial as complete treatment can be done. After that, it gets difficult as they don’t respond to visual acuity tests,” said Dr Kaushik Murali, Medical President, Quality & Education, Sankara Eye Hospital.

He added with this app will be useful for many. “Since this technique only requires access to a smartphone camera, it can be used both in rural and urban areas, and even allows for screening by untrained people,” Dr Murali added.The app is under clinical validation at Sankara Eye Hospital.

What is amblyopia?
Amblyopia, also known as lazy eye, is a visual development disorder where a person slowly loses vision leading to partial blindness. It affects almost 16 million children in India and over 103 million children all over the world.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by Iffath Fathima / Express News Service / October 02nd, 2019

Saluting soldiers of yore: remembering the Battle of Haifa

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Proposals for restoration of the Memorial was submitted at the 101st Haifa Day Celebrations

For entrepreneur Uday Birje and financial analyst Praveen Maney, The 1918 Battle of Haifa is much more than just another historical event. They are the descendants of the soldiers of Mysore Lancers, who won a decisive victory over the Ottoman Turks and the Germans. “My great grandfather Raghunath Rao Birje was part of the Mysore Lancers. Mysuru Maharaja Nalvaji Krishnaraja Wadiyar sent his best soldiers—the Mysore, Jodhpur, and the Hyderabad Lancers— on the promise of Independence by the British,” says Uday.

In fact, the Mysuru Maharaja sent his brother-in-law Colonel J Desaraj Urs, and relatives Risaldar BP Krishne Urs and Captain A Lingaraj Urs to Haifa in Israel.

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Praveen says four of his ancestors fought in the Battle. “They were Venkata Rao Maney, Limbaji Pawar, Rajoji Kesarkar and Bhim Rao Talekar. Venkata Rao Maney passed away in the Battle of Allepo and his remains didn’t come to India. His body was buried in Israel and his name is written on the Haifa memorial in Delhi and Bengaluru. The other three descendants returned. One of the medals Limbaji Pawar won was the Indian Distinguished Services Medal for the bravery he displayed in the Battle of Haifa.”

Though much of the memorabilia has been lost, the families have maintained some of them, including medals and swords. “After the War, many people didn’t return, while some did. Those who did spread out to other villages. Some settled within Bengaluru in places around the Mysore Lancers cantonment in Munnireddy Palya (present JC Nagar), Ganga Nagar, Malleswaram, etc.,” says Uday

Uday has a replica of the honour roll by King George, which was given to his great grandmother while Praveen’s family is in possession of a medal, and a sword taken from a German soldier.

The Ottoman Turks and Germans had superior weapons such as machine guns whereas the Mysore Lancers possessed only swords and lancers. It was sheer courage and excellent battle strategy that led to the victory of the Mysore Lancers.

Once the soldiers returned, their contributions were recognised and rewarded by Nalvaji Krishnaraja Wadiyar. It was not until last year that the Battle of Haifa received national recognition. 100 years of the Battle was celebrated last year. The consequence was the renaming of Teen Murti Marg in Delhi—where there is a Haifa Memorial—to Teen Murti Haifa Marg.

At the 101st celebration held at Mysore Lancers Memorial, JC Nagar, on September 23, a formal proposal was submitted by Yashaswini Sharma, urban historian and architect, to Commissioner of Police Bhaskar Rao and corporator of JC Nagar Ganesh Rao Maney.

“The World War I memorial, which is part of the city’s tangible heritage and sets the context for the neighbourhood, is now in need of urgent attention,” says Yashaswini.

“One step of the base stands embedded inside the road, and the circle with grill barricade is too small. We have submitted a proposal for two granite plaques with the names of all the soldiers of the Mysore Lancers around an equestrian statue; and an enlargement of the Memorial circle and redesign of the grill work.

The proposed design of the grill work is inspired by the decorations of the Mysore Lancers, which includes the Mysore Royal emblem of Gandabherunda. There is bit of paint on the pillar which needs to be cleaned out—the families of the martyrs and some NGOs had earlier cleaned the Memorial, but it requires periodic maintenance. The proposed equestrian statue — Mysore Lancer soldier astride a horse — will be in metal, and we hope this can be placed in the circle right behind the War Memorial and that both the statue and the circle could be connected by a cobbled pathway. This equestrian statue will be set on a pedestal that resembles the design of the World War I Memorial and will be encircled by stone benches so that the families of martyrs can find peace and spend some time there while they pay their respects,” adds Yashaswini.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Society> History & Culture / by Sravasti Datta / September 30th, 2019